Resolutions
by flutegirl.anita
Summary: The boys and Lou get into trouble so Teaspoon gives them a New Year's writing assignment.


**Happy New Year to you all!**

* * *

New Year's Eve had always been an exciting time for Rachel. Usually she was on a riverboat chugging away down the Mississippi River, but this year she was at the Sweetwater Pony Express station. It had been snowing for going on two days and Rachel was near at her wit's end. The riders were all at the station and had long since done their chores. They were now developing some of the worst cases of cabin fever Rachel had ever seen. All of them were positively stir crazy. Jimmy had cleaned his guns a couple of times, Cody had read most of his books at least once, Ike had used up all his drawing paper, Noah was pacing, Kid and Lou weren't speaking to each other and Buck just sat next to the window touching the glass with his hand and looking longingly out at the landscape.

When the pillow fight started, Rachel had had enough. She yelled at the riders as the feathers of a broken pillow floated in the air and vowed not to return to the bunkhouse until it had been cleaned from top to bottom. Just as Rachel stormed out of the room Teaspoon walked in. He had heard everything Rachel had said and surveyed the damage around the room. He needed to get his boys and girl doing something constructive.

"Lou, boys," he announced. "I think since the New Year is almost upon us, you boys…and girl, should write out New Year's Resolutions."

"What's a 'New Year's Resolution,' Teaspoon?" Lou asked.

"A 'New Year's Resolution' is something that you decide you want to work on and do differently or better in the coming year," Teaspoon answered. "I want you all to come up with at least five resolutions. When you're done, bring them up to the house. Rachel and I will look them all over after supper."

The riders just stared at him blankly.

"Those resolutions aren't going to write themselves," Teaspoon admonished. "But first, clean up this mess."

Teaspoon turned and walked out of the bunkhouse and headed for the house to smooth things over with Rachel.

The riders looked at each other and then started to clean the bunkhouse. They gathered and swept up all the feathers from the broken pillow and straightened all of their things. They each sat at the table and took out a piece of paper and a pencil. The riders all stared at each other from across the table hoping to catch some inspiration.

Cody rubbed his hands together. He lived for this sort of thing. He knew exactly what his New Year's resolutions were going to be. He had just been bitten by the acting bug and he very much wanted to become a student of the theatre. He knew what people were like when they dabbled with thing. People did not take them seriously. He was not a dabbler, he was committed. Cody also thought of Hezekiah Horn and all he learned from him too. Maybe there was a way to combine his passions for the west and for performing. Maybe he could do something Hezekiah could not. Maybe by putting together a traveling show, he could bring the experience of the west to the people so they could see it without coming out here. It was a worthy dream and he was not quite ready to pursue it. He had much to learn and experience yet. Cody thought about a few other things to round out his list. Some light things would be in order because those first two things were pretty daunting. He decided to add, 'Be better about getting my chores done, control my appetite, and don't question other rider's religious beliefs.' Cody smiled brightly and looked around the room to see who else was finished. He thought he might be the first one.

Noah licked the end of his pencil and looked around at the faces of the other riders before setting the pencil tip to the top of his clean sheet of paper. This felt to him like something his father would do to him when Noah was little and had gotten in trouble. Noah wrote a number one on the top of his paper and wrote his first resolution. 'Control my temper,' he wrote. Next he put down, 'Try not to be so judgmental.' The third thing he wrote was, 'Read more books' followed by, 'Go to church more often.' Lastly, Noah wrote, 'See the dreams of Sally and my father realized.' The last one brought a tear to his eye. It was hard to feel sorry for himself in this company. He was not the only person in this room without parents. They were all pretty much dealt the same hand and it was a comfort to him to know that he at last had a family.

Ike looked over at a scowling Buck and shrugged. He looked to the ceiling and then started to write. So many things had happened in the eight months since they had joined the Pony Express. There were so many things to be thankful for, but like Teaspoon had reminded them, there were things they could also work to perfect and outstanding problems to solve. The first thing that came to Ike's mind was finding the men who killed his family. He didn't think he could have closure on that part of his life until he saw the men who took his family away, punished. Next he wrote to not get so frustrated when people didn't understand him and to depend on Buck less to communicate with people. The Express had given him confidence and even though there were still issues with miscommunication, Ike really wanted to be more patient with people and find a way to communicate. Ike thought some more. He wrote that he wanted to learn how to draw better and maybe give love a chance. The last two were kind of whimsical, but he wanted to concentrate on things that were fun too. He finally felt like he was in a place to do that. The Express had welcomed him without issue and he felt like he was finally thriving.

Kid saw Cody finish and Noah and Ike writing away. He tried to think of things he would like to do better for the next year. He looked over at Lou who elbowed him and covered her paper. That gave him an idea for his first item. Be more respectful of Lou's privacy, he wrote. It was hard for Kid to figure Lou out. She acted different from every girl, Kid had ever met. He thought maybe that is what attracted him to her so much. She was different and definitely unique. Kid looked around the table and saw Jimmy glaring at something off in the distance. That gave him another idea. Try not to get into fist fights with Jimmy, he scribbled down quickly. It was probably good to try not to get into fist fights with anybody, but especially not his friends. He thought of a few more things, like, 'Try to stop meddling in other rider's problems', 'Remember I'm not in Virginia anymore', and to 'Try to find a hat that fits right.' He kind of felt like he threw that last ones on the list just to make five things, but he couldn't think of anything else and besides, he did need a new hat. The most important thing to him on that list was Lou and that's the one item he hoped he would have the opportunity to work on until the day he died.

Lou covered her paper from the prying eyes of Kid and the other riders at the table. She let out an irritated sigh and wrote down, 'Be more trusting of the other riders' and, 'Have more patience with Kid.' She knew she was closed off to them and it was defensive, but they had all long since proved that they were her family. Lou started to chew on the end of her pencil and decided that learning to cook could be fun and useful. At least then if Rachel was gone they would have more options than just Jimmy's porridge. Lou smiled and wrote down her last two resolutions. The first was wear dresses as often as possible and the last one was to not meddle in any of the boy's love lives. Those two even though they seemed easy would be some of the hardest things on the list. She did not have the opportunity to wear a dress very often so she would have to create them. It could be fun and she liked being a girl around her family of brothers. Any one of them would be a prize and she really wished more of the town folk with daughters could recognize that. Feeling that way made her last resolution very hard, but she had seen her brothers so hurt by women in the last eight months. She felt bad for what had happened when she meddled and vowed not to let it happen again. She would be someone to talk to, but that would be as far as it went.

Jimmy thought this exercise was stupid and he could tell by the look on Buck's face that he was not the only one. Of course if he wanted to get back on Rachel's good side, he would have to do this. Teaspoon always had some crazy ideas but Jimmy thought this one took the cake. Jimmy surveyed the others around the table and they all seemed to be writing something down on their pages. Jimmy thought back through this year and there were definitely things he wanted to be better about. First, and foremost he wanted to try not to kill anyone, but mostly after what happened in Benton, he never wanted an innocent person to get into his line of fire ever again. Everything else he could have wanted paled in comparison, but he still needed to fill out his list. He thought he would like to become a better reader and maybe move past the _McGuffey Readers_ he was reading from. Noah had given him a copy of _The Last of the Mohicans_ and it seemed like it might be a pretty good book. Jimmy thought about other facets of his life. He would like to be a little more humble and less cocky. He was getting better about that and the other riders were honestly helping with that. They all had gifts some of which he did not possess and it did not make him weak, it just made them all stronger. Jimmy wanted to be more comfortable working as a team. He did not have to go it alone anymore. Thinking of one more thing to add, Jimmy decided he wanted to let people in and protect him as he would them.

Buck did not understand much of what the white man considered important and this resolution thing seemed to fit into that category. Teaspoon wanted them to write things about them they wanted to improve. This was one of those things about white men Buck did not get. If one wanted to change one's life then one should do it. Writing it down did not mean anything. Still he would not get any supper if he did not do Teaspoon's exercise in humility. He looked over and saw that Cody had finished his list already, in fact almost all the riders were done with their list and waiting on him. Buck took a deep cleansing breath. He wrote down that he wanted to not assume the worst whenever the army rode into town, even though he had bad experiences in the past. He also wanted to make it out at dawn more often to say morning prayers. He wasn't doing that nearly as much anymore and he felt like he was losing his Kiowa half a little bit. Buck noticed how his clothing was a bit loose and decided he should eat better especially when he was upset. Maybe then he wouldn't feel such a physical toll when things were rough. Buck looked around the room at his expectant friends then put his eyes back on his paper. He only had three things so far. He hastily wrote down that he would try not to get offended so easily and to talk about his feelings more instead of bottling them up.

Buck looked up at the rest of the riders at the table and nodded. They all stood up and put on coats to go up to the house for supper. When they opened the door, Teaspoon had his hand out for all of their resolutions. He and Rachel passed them between each other during dessert and looked on their boys and girl with pride.

"You did a fine job thinking of resolutions boys," Teaspoon said. "Now, let's see if you can keep 'em."

The riders looked at each other and several of them shrugged. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to do or maybe it would be the hardest thing they ever tried to do. Whichever, they decided that the coming year was going to be full of excitement and adventure. They would be tested and they would succeed at some things and fail at others.


End file.
